Senior Software Reverse Engineer

Peraton•Huntsville, AL

About The Position

We are seeking a highly skilled and experienced Senior Software Reverse Engineer to join our SCAR Team. In this role, you will perform in depth analysis of software, firmware, and hardware systems to uncover their true functionality, identify vulnerabilities, and understand their operational context. This position requires a holistic approach, combining dynamic system analysis, static binary reverse engineering, and document exploitation to reveal not just what a system does, but why and how it supports its mission objectives.

Requirements

Bachelor’s degree with 8+ years of relevant experience; OR Masters’s degree with 6+ years of relevant experience; OR PhD with 4+ years of relevant experience; an additional 4 years of relevant experience considered in lieu of a degree
TS/SCI with ability to obtain a poly
3+ years of relevant experience in software reverse engineering, with a preference for experience in material exploitation, malware analysis, or vulnerability research.
Experience with virtualization platforms (VMware Workstation, KVM/QEMU) for dynamic analysis, sandboxing, and system emulation.
Experience with forensic disk image analysis using tools like Autopsy or guestfish to mount, modify, and extract artifacts from raw disk images.
Experience in the SWRE toolchain, including Ghidra, GDB, Wireshark, MobaXterm, NMAP, or the Linux binutils suite (e.g., readelf, strace, ltrace, ldd).
Experience with network analysis (Wireshark, nmap) to baseline system behavior and identify communication protocols.
Experience in Linux/Unix environments, including system administration, network configuration, SSH key management (ssh keygen, virt-customize), or advanced command-line tools.
Demonstrated ability to perform live debugging of complex applications using GDB, including setting breakpoints, inspecting memory, and analyzing program state to support reverse engineering efforts.
Knowledge of low-level programming (C, C++, Assembly) and experience with scripting languages like Python.
Understanding of operating system internals, x86/x64 assembly, and CPU architecture.
A solid understanding of common security practices and the ability to identify security flaws in software architecture.

Responsibilities

Conduct comprehensive analysis of compiled software and binaries.
Employ forensic techniques to extract critical artifacts, understand system architecture, and identify key software components.
Utilize virtualization and sandboxing environments (VMware, KVM/QEMU) to run and observe software in its native operating environment.
Perform system call tracing, network monitoring, and file system analysis to reveal real-time behaviors and interactions.
Perform live, on-system debugging using tools like the GNU Debugger (GDB) to step through code execution in real-time.
Correlate dynamic findings directly with static analysis from Ghidra to validate assumptions, understand complex logic, and uncover obfuscated functionality.
Use advanced reverse engineering tools, with a focus on Ghidra, to decompile and disassemble software.
Analyze code paths, extract indicators, and uncover hidden or malicious logic that is not apparent through dynamic analysis alone.
Collaborate with analysts to integrate findings from system and operational documents.
Use this context to understand the system's Concept of Operations (CONOPS), providing significance and priority to exploitation efforts.
Investigate and identify vulnerabilities, undocumented features, and novel capabilities within the target system.
Develop proof-of-concept exploits and assess their potential impact on operational dependencies.
Model and simulate specific features and functions to understand how the software was developed, compiled, and deployed.
Employ a specialized toolchain for analysis, including disk imagers, virtual machine managers, network scanners, and debuggers to perform end-to-end exploitation.
Mentor junior engineers in specific SWRE methodologies, tools, and techniques.